Social media influencers have a simple message for young men: Your worth comes down to a few superficial things – your looks, your money, your status. And because women are shallow, or because the system is rigged against you, the only path forward is to game it.

Those factors aren't irrelevant. Appearance and income matter in dating and career. But they're far from the whole picture. The "manosphere" has evolved since its peak with former pro kickboxer Andrew Tate, and its newer strains could be even more corrosive to young men trying to figure out who they are and what they want.

Gen Z men would be wise to tune it out and return to more traditional forms of self-improvement. Even granting – wrongly – that young men bear no responsibility for their struggles in dating or work, you're still far better off bettering yourself than assigning blame.

Social media's poisonous influence on young men is evolving

Struggling young men from my generation tend to look outward rather than inward. In dating, they blame their looks or women's........

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